


The Blue Lunchbox

by dreamshades



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Coupzi, Jicheol, M/M, Minor SoonHoon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-02
Updated: 2016-04-02
Packaged: 2018-05-30 17:57:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6434545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamshades/pseuds/dreamshades
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Seungcheol never has a lunch and Jihoon decides to make him one (well, by asking his mother's favor, of course).</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Blue Lunchbox

**Author's Note:**

> One-shot story inspired by this prompt: 'Character A never has a lunch. Character B offers to share with them.' I changed it a bit to suit my liking. I hope you guys will like it!

Jihoon adjusted his small eyes on the boy and narrowed them to slits. He slightly pulled the corners of his lips down, wondering as to why the boy merely sat there and did nothing. It had been weeks now since Jihoon first noticed it. The boy never had a lunch during recess time. And he never went to the cafeteria either. Whenever the bell rang, signaling the recess time, the boy would sit on his seat quietly. And all that he did was either scribbling down something in his notebook or sleeping.  
  
     Jihoon took out his lunchbox and put it on his desk, eyes still glued to the boy who went by the name Choi Seungcheol. _Doesn't he get hungry during classes? Doesn't his stomach growls? How could he endure it?_  
  
     Questions fired his brain as Jihoon opened the lid of his lunchbox. He wasn't born with silver spoon in his mouth too, therefore, his mother always packed a lunch for him. And he never got embarrassed with the pink lunchbox he brought every day though his classmates occasionally teased him.  
  
     Jihoon grabbed his chopsticks, picked up the egg roll and fed it into his mouth. Each time he chewed on his egg roll, Jihoon wondered what could be the reason for Seungcheol not to have a lunch at all. _Is he too poor to afford one? Didn't his mom make him one? Or maybe he didn't like lunch? But..._  
  
     “What are you looking at?” Seungcheol's voice rang through the quiet classroom, surprising Jihoon.  
  
     “N-Nothing,” Jihoon quickly replied and looked away in a haste. He grabbed his chest that was moving up and down and tried to breathe comfortably. He was almost choked on the egg roll but luckily, it didn't happen.  
  
     Seungcheol shot the midget a look of distaste and turned away. He continued scribbling something down his notebook, completely ignoring his growling stomach.  
  
     Before long, the learning session continued with a male teacher walking into the classroom. Everyone followed the class monitor's lead and after saying their greeting, they sat down on their seat again. In the next second, Mr. Kim began the class with his long and boring lecture. Soonyoung had almost dozed off only to be woken up by Jihoon. Sure enough, the boy didn't fancy History subject at all.  
  
     Normally, Jihoon would pay attention to every word Mr. Kim was saying, but today, he seemed inattentive. Jihoon stole a glance at the sleepy Soonyoung and nudged his friend.  
  
     Soonyoung flinched slightly and looked at Jihoon with his half-lidded eyes. “Oh...” he blurted, expressionless.  
  
     “Soonyoung,” Jihoon said in a low mutter.  
  
     The sleepyhead merely hummed in response and propped his head in the palm of his hand.  
  
     “I want to ask you something.”  
  
     “What? If it's about History, go ask Mr. Kim instead,” Soonyoung replied in his monotone voice.  
  
     “No. It's not about History. It's about Seungcheol.”  
  
     Soonyoung's eyes widened at the mention of the name. He quickly looked Jihoon in the eye and asked, “Why so sudden?”  
  
     “W-Well, I'm just curious about something. Why he never had a lunch?” Jihoon arched his brows at Soonyoung and blinked his eyes.  
  
     Silence followed after his question as Soonyoung gawked at the petite boy. He was about to open his mouth to say, “I don't know about that. Please ask Seungcheol himself” when Mr. Kim's voice rang through the air instead of his.  
  
     “Are you paying attention to me or to your friend, Mr. Kwon?”  
  
     Both Jihoon and Soonyoung rested their eyes on the male figure and gulped their saliva in fear. The man shot them an intimidating look, with a hand on his hip and a long cane in his grip.  
  
     “Um...Mr. Kim...I-I...”  
  
     “What is it, Soonyoung?”  
  
     Soonyoung heaved a sigh. “I'm sorry.”  
  
  
Soonyoung crossed his arms and scowled at the thought of him getting double essays to be written which due tomorrow. And it all thanks to Jihoon who dragged him to this kind of misfortune. His sharp gaze was fixed on the hectic road as he sat at the bus stop. Jihoon shook his right arm while apologizing but sadly, Soonyoung didn't even spare a glance at the boy.  
  
     “Soonyoung, I'm so sorry. Please forgive me.” Jihoon shook his arm lightly, still saying his apology.  
  
     “Nope. I won't. How dare you let me getting those freaking hard essays to write and turn them in by tomorrow morning?! You're no longer my friend,” Soonyoung spat out and snorted. _Life is so unfair._  
  
     Jihoon's eyes narrowed to slits as he glared at the blonde-haired boy beside him. _How immature_. “Okay then. Don't copy my homework anymore.” He turned away and distance himself from Soonyoung.  
  
     On hearing that, the blonde hair boy flustered. If Jihoon didn't want to let him copy his homework anymore, then who else would? All these times, Soonyoung had never literally done his homework on his own. Because he was too busy playing the video games and watching the anime series that he forgot the homework stacked in his backpack.  
  
     Consequently, he rushed to school the next morning only to copy down Jihoon's work in a flash of lightning.  
  
     Soonyoung fidgeted and shot a concerned look at Jihoon who was being ignorant at the moment. “W-What did you say? J-Jihoon, are you s-serious?” Soonyoung shifted his body closer to the petite boy and held his arm.  
  
     “Did you see me laughing?” Jihoon replied, deadpanned.  
  
     Seeing his friend's straight face, Soonyoung had no option left but to say, “Okay, I forgive you. Take back your words now!”  
  
     Jihoon giggled at his friend's words and wore a wide smile on his fair complexion. “Okay! I take back my words!”  
  
     And with that, the omnibus they had been waiting for minutes long finally arrived and pulled up in front of the bus stop. Both Jihoon and Soonyoung hopped into the large motor vehicle and strode towards the backseat as that was the only seat left. Before long, they seated side by side. The omnibus was about to move when a boy hurriedly hopped in and the two friends startled a tad for it was Seungcheol.  
  
     Soonyoung nudged Jihoon several times it ached the other's arm.  
  
     Seungcheol, on the other hand, noticed them and the only empty seat left. To be more specific, it was right next to Jihoon. An audible sigh escaped from his lips afterward, head hanging low.  
  
     Jihoon knew the fact that the seat next to him was the only vacant seat left. Therefore, he elbowed Soonyoung to move aside so there was enough space for Seungcheol to sit on. The blonde-haired boy let out a mild grunt, frowned and reluctantly shifted to the side.  
  
     Soon, Jihoon mustered all of his courage to say, “Um...y-you can sit here.”  
  
     Seungcheol heard that, for sure. Well, he couldn't take “No” as his answer because he didn't want to look like a fool, standing there alone in the omnibus during the entire ride. In the end, he sighed and strode off to the seat next to the petite boy. Jihoon smiled at him, but he was cold as ever. Before long, he took a seat beside Jihoon and silence ensued.  
  
     Soonyoung eyed the jug-eared boy with his narrowed eyes. Jihoon, on the contrary, stood still like a statue. Awkwardness swept over them and Soonyoung, being blabbermouth as ever, opened his mouth to break the silence.  
  
     “Seungcheol,” he called out the boy's name.  
  
     Seungcheol merely hummed in response, eyes still glued to the outside.  
  
     “Nothing.”  
  
     The jug-eared boy shot him an intimidating look, snorted in disgust and looked away.  
  
     Well, Soonyoung didn't even know what to say to the boy though they literally sat in the same classroom. To be more precise, the three of them, Soonyoung, Jihoon, and Seungcheol, were in the same class. They studied in the same atmosphere and in the same place with the same teachers. However, the two best friends had never had a proper conversation with Seungcheol before. Not even once.  
  
     Because Seungcheol was known by everyone in the class as the aloof guy, a loner. No one knew why he was being quiet all the time though his bright-looking face didn't quite match his distant personality. And it questioned Jihoon, in particular, when he never had a lunch during the recess time.  
  
     Jihoon clamped his hands on his lap and stole a glance at the jug-eared boy beside him. Seungcheol, however, was looking out the window with his leg continuously shaking. Jihoon wondered if it was because of him the boy seemed uncomfortable to sit beside him considering the earlier incident that happened during lunch break. Jihoon wanted to say his apology towards the taller one, but nothing came out from his mouth no matter how hard he tried to.  
  
     Soonyoung nudged his stuttering friend and shot him a questioning look. “What's wrong with you?”  
  
     Jihoon heaved a sigh and dejectedly replied, “Nothing.”  
  
     Seungcheol silently pricked up his ears and listened to the conversation between the two boys that sat beside him. Though he was gazing outside the omnibus window, his ears were, indeed, listening to them talking to each other secretly.  
  
     To be quite frank, Seungcheol did want to approach the others. He did want to talk to them. But he didn't know how to. Because Seungcheol often found himself being rude towards them whenever they tried to approach him. Just like what happened earlier in the class when he noticed the petite boy was staring at him. He didn't intend to blurt out the words to Jihoon, though.  
  
     Occasionally, Seungcheol blamed himself for being too quiet and reserved. For having a problem to express himself in words. For having a bad mouth. And for having a low self-esteem.  
  
     Before long, the omnibus pulled up in a particular area and Seungcheol stood up abruptly, shocking the other two. Without wasting any more minute, Seungcheol strode towards the middle-aged driver, paid the fee and hopped out of the vehicle.  
  
     As Seungcheol had left, Soonyoung shoved Jihoon aside and grinned for the wider space he had for himself. The petite boy, however, gazed outside the window and met the other's gaze. They inadvertently exchanged a look with each other and somehow Jihoon saw the glint of sadness in the other's orbs.  
  
  
When the morning approached, Jihoon woke up early as usual. He washed up and dried himself with the towel, wore his school uniform neatly, adored his face in front of the mirror and grabbed the strap of his backpack before he climbed downstairs to the kitchen. The breakfast was already served on the table and Jihoon wasted no more time to sit down and hogged the food to himself.  
  
     But when Jihoon's dark brown orbs were set on the pink lunchbox his mother was preparing, something crossed his mind and he paused.  
  
     “Mom,” he called out.  
  
     The woman merely hummed in response while raising her brows.  
  
     “Can you make another one lunchbox?”  
  
     Her son's question got the woman temporarily speechless before she shot an astonished look at him and asked, “For what?”  
  
     Jihoon made a low, steady continuous sound like a bee as he thought of an answer. “For...my friend. H-He never has a lunch before.”  
  
     She nodded her head tardily as she listened to her son's reason. “I see. So, you want to help him, huh?”  
  
     “Yeah!” Jihoon quickly replied animatedly.  
  
     His mother smiled at his reply. “Okay then. I'll make one for him too.” Before long, the woman retrieved a blue lunchbox her eldest son, Yoongi, once used when he was a high school student like Jihoon, and filled it with omelet rice.  
  
     “Bye!” Jihoon waved his long fingers at her with a radiant look on his face.  
  
     “Take care,” she replied and waved back. Gradually, the petite boy was getting farther away from her and soon, was out of her sight. She heaved a sigh afterward and walked into the house as she heard the phone ringing. _Yoongi...why did he keep on forgetting his own stuff?_  
  
     On the other hand, Jihoon hopped into the omnibus in a state of happiness with the lunchboxes in his hands. He said his silent prayer, hoping that things would turn out positive when he gave the blue lunchbox to Seungcheol. Though he doubted it a tad.  


Soonyoung kept on mumbling, “One minute left,” with a fixed look at the wall clock. He didn't even listen to what Miss Han was saying about their next lesson. Instead, he was counting down the seconds before the bell rang, signaling the recess time. Meanwhile, Jihoon flustered as he realized the fact that he was going to give the lunchbox to Seungcheol and began to worry about the jug-eared boy's reaction.  
  
     And at last, the school bell blared out loud. Being the most blessed guy in the class, Soonyoung excitedly stood up and greeted Miss Han goodbye in his animated manner. Miss Han rolled her eyes in annoyance at Soonyoung's reaction. Well, it's a typical view for her and the other students in the class because they acknowledged the fact that Soonyoung disliked studying. So unlike Jihoon who sat beside him.  
  
     “Jihoon, I'm leaving!” Soonyoung gave a pat on the petite boy's back and smiled radiantly.  
  
     “Okay.”  
  
     “I'll buy you some snacks, okay?”  
  
     “Why? There's no need to do that.” Jihoon took out his pink lunchbox and shot the blonde haired boy a look.  
  
     Soonyoung pouted his lips in dejection and replied, “Fine.” Before long, he joined Wonwoo and Mingyu to the school cafeteria, leaving Jihoon and not to forget, Seungcheol together in the quiet class.  
  
     Jihoon stole a glance at the other and took out the blue lunchbox from under his table. He pursed his lips together, thinking of ways to give it to him without experiencing rejection which to Jihoon's opinion had the higher possibility to occur. But, Jihoon was determined. He would give it to Seungcheol. No matter what. He himself couldn't understand why he was doing this for someone he barely talked to. Yet, Seungcheol was his classmate and it's not something weird if he asked his mother to make a lunch for his classmate.  
  
     The chair was drawn backward as Jihoon stood up with the blue lunchbox in his hands. He set his small eyes on the taller and slowly approached him. Seungcheol, however, took no notice of Jihoon who was approaching him with a container in his hands and focused on his notebook instead.  
  
     Before long, Jihoon stood beside him. He took a deep breath and was about to greet the boy when Seungcheol averted his eyes to him. Paralyzed, Jihoon lost his words and ended up with “Um..ah..eo..”  
  
     “What do you want?” Seungcheol asked in his gravelly voice. He quickly closed his notebook and hid them under the table. But then, the blue lunchbox in the petite boy's hands caught his attention. “What is that?”  
  
     Jihoo looked down at the lunchbox he was holding. “Oh! This...um...lunchbox...”  
  
     Seungcheol listened attentively to what the petite boy was trying to say though he was slightly annoyed with him stuttering like that.  
  
     “For you.” Jihoon quickly finished his sentence and gave out the lunchbox to Seungcheol with his head down, avoiding the other's strong gaze.  
  
     Seungcheol flinched slightly and stared at the blue container. _For me?_  
  
     “I-I never saw you had a lunch. S-So...I asked my mom to make you one,” Jihoon said, head still hanging low. But deep inside, Jihoon swore he could hear his heart beating very briskly.  
  
     “Why?” That was all Seungcheol replied to him.  
  
     Jihoon slowly lifted up his head and met the boy's black orbs. “Well,” he said, “I...don't know either. But, it's not good to learn with your empty stomach. That's what mom told me.”  
  
     Seungcheol saw the petite boy grinned awkwardly. “But―”  
  
     “Please accept it,” Jihoon retorted. “It might not suit your taste. But...please.”  
  
     He heaved a breath at the boy's words. Sure enough, he was hungry at the moment. And when someone offered him a meal, it was difficult to resist the temptation that was right in front of him. Plus, never had someone done this to him before which was a new experience for Seungcheol. Jihoon looked him in the eye, silently but earnestly telling him, “Please accept it. This is for you, really. I mean it.”  
  
     After a short pause, Seungcheol replied, “O-Okay. I―”  
  
     Jihoon shoved the lunchbox into Seungcheol's hands in excitement and said, “Great! I hope you like my mom's cooking! Thank you so much!”  
  
     That “Thank you so much!” line was supposed to be said by Seungcheol, though. But too late, Jihoon had already gone back to his seat and was now opening the lid of his pink lunchbox. Seungcheol looked on in silence as Jihoon took out a spoon and shot him a happy look. There were two tiny crescent moons that lit up his fair complexion and it somehow attracted Seungcheol's attention.  
  
     Seungcheol quickly turned away and fixated his eyes on the blue lunchbox on his desk. “Thank you for the meal,” he mumbled and opened the lid of the container only to be surprised with the message written on the omelet rice with sauce.  
  
     _Enjoy the meal, Jihoon's friend._  
  
     The message on the omelet rice got Seungcheol entirely speechless. Did his mother know me? He wondered alone and somehow, it embarrassed him to receive such kind of a message from Jihoon's mother who he scarcely knew. Before long, Seungcheol picked up the spoon provided in the container and had a taste of it. His eyes widened, his brows arched and his mouth curved into a permanent 'O'.  
  
     _Delicious._  
  
     And without wasting any more second, Seungcheol scoffed down the entire meal.  
  
     Jihoon, on the other hand, quietly observed the jug-eared boy and grinned in relief.  
  
     Right before the bell rang, signaling the end of recess time, Seungcheol swallowed his last portion, put the spoon back into the empty blue lunchbox and closed the lid. He stood up with the lunchbox in his hands and strode towards Jihoon who was drinking his water from the bottle.  
  
     “How is it?” Jihoon asked eagerly. His small eyes were bright and shiny as if there were stars in it.  
  
     Seungcheol put down the lunchbox on Jihoon's desk and said in a low mutter, “It's delicious.”  
  
     “Really?” His tone went up a little higher, excited. “If that so, I'll bring you another lunch tomorrow.”  
  
     Seungcheol's eyes widened at his words, tongue-tied.  
  
     “I take that as yes.”  
  
     “Hold i―”  
  
     “Jihoonie!” It was only then Soonyoung entered the class energetically after having a good, delicious lunch at the school cafeteria. He paused and immediately wore a bewildered look on his face as he spotted Seungcheol standing next to Jihoon, talking with each other. It was a spectacular view for Soonyoung that it had his mouth agape.  
  
     Straight-faced, Seungcheol looked Soonyoung in the eye. “What's wrong with you?”  
  
     Soonyoung jerked his body backward, flustered. “N-Nothing,” he said and grinned sheepishly.  
  
     Realizing that Mingyu and Wonwoo were coming, Seungcheol hurried back to his seat and heaved an audible sigh for he failed to say his reply to Jihoon's previous words. All because of that Soonyoung boy.  
  
     Soonyoung, on the other hand, briskly approached Jihoon with a curious look on his face and sat on his chair with eyes fixed on the petite boy. “What happened between you two? Why did he suddenly talk to you? Wass he bullying you?”  
  
     “N-No. He didn't bully me.”  
  
     “Then?”  
  
     Jihoon picked up the blue lunchbox and showed it to Soonyoung. “I brought him a packed lunch.”  
  
     His eyes widened at Jihoon's statement and his voice tone went a little higher. Soonyoung held Jihoon's shoulders and shook it lightly while saying, “What?! You brought him a lunch?”    
  
     “Don't exaggerate your reaction please,” Jihoon said, kind of annoyed.  
  
     “But you never bring me a lunch before!”  
  
     Jihoon sighed heavily. “That's because you always eat at the cafeteria.”  
  
     Soonyoung admitted the truth in his friend's words and pouted his lips in grief. He crossed his arms, leaned his back against the straight-backed chair and looked away with his furrowed brows.  
  
  
“Did your friend like it?” His mother arched her brows at Jihoon as he handed her the empty lunchboxes. She gladly took it and headed towards the kitchen to wash them.  
  
     Jihoon nodded. “He liked it. Can you make him a lunch for tomorrow too?”  
  
     “Sure. Invite him over here sometimes. I would like to know more about him.”  
  
     “But...it's not Soonyoung.” Jihoon took a seat on the dining table and pulled down the corners of his lips slightly.  
  
     The woman fell silent for a moment before she plastered a wide smile on her face. “That's why you have to introduce him to me! Right?”  
  
     Now it's Jihoon's turn to fall silent. “I think...it's going to be a bit hard, though.”  
  
     “Why?” The woman furrowed her brows at her son, bewildered. She put the containers away and dried her wet hands with a clean towel. Afterward, the woman seated across Jihoon, propped her chin in the palm of her right hand and gave her son a puzzled look.  
  
     Jihoon rubbed the nape of his neck. “Because...he's difficult to...approach.”  
  
     “Is that so? Then how did you give the lunchbox to him?”  
  
     Her question got Jihoon tongue-tied for a second. He looked at his mother who brows were arched with a lopsided smile decked on her face. She was right indeed. Because today, Jihoon had approached the jug-eared boy and successfully had him ate the packed lunch his mother made him.  
  
     “See? I don't think that he's difficult to approach, dear. If you had succeeded in giving him this lunchbox, I'm positive that you can succeed in approaching him too. Sometimes, it needs times, efforts and...packed lunches to get into his closed heart.”  
  
     Jihoon exchanged a look with his mother, trying to process everything she had told him just now. The smile she gave him at the moment was convincing, though. It was as if she was telling him that Seungcheol wasn't that hard to approach after all. It was as if she knew him well.  
  
     “Are you doubting me?”  
  
     Her question pulled Jihoon back to the reality. He flinched slightly and gave her a blanked expression. “N-No. I'm not.”  
  
     An audible sigh escaped from her lips afterward. She stood up on her feet, beamed at Jihoon and said, “I'm going to the convenience store.”  
  
     Jihoon merely nodded and watched in silence as his mother strode towards her room to take her purse.  
  
     When the night approached, Jihoon laid in his bed and stared at the empty ceiling blankly. He blinked several times only to find himself recalling his mother's erstwhile words. And it unknowingly brought him back to the moment when he and Soonyoung went back home by the usual omnibus. Because Seungcheol was there too, for the second time.  
  
     Though they didn't talk to each other like yesterday, but Jihoon felt quite comfortable to sit by the boy. And he hoped that Seungcheol felt the same way too.  
  
  
The next morning, Jihoon stumbled into the kitchen with his backpack but immediately stopped when he set his eyes on the lunchboxes on the dining table. The pink and the blue ones. A small smile decked on his fair complexion as he took a seat on the dining table with a fixed look on the lunchboxes.  
  
     “Mom,” Jihoon blurted and shot his mother a look.  
  
     But she was too busy washing the dishes to turn around and looked at Jihoon that she merely hummed in response.  
  
     “How did you―”  
  
     She turned around and gave him a meaningful look. And the smile on her face cut off Jihoon's words before he could even form it into a question. "You told me yesterday, remember?"  
  
     He curved his mouth into a permanent 'O' as he recalled their erstwhile conversation yesterday. But somehow, there was something hidden beneath the smile and the eyes of his mother. Yet, Jihoon couldn't unravel its meaning. But he was positive that it ought to be a good thing. Therefore, he twitched his lips into a cheerful smile and said, “Okay.”  
  
     As usual, the first period of today's school went on smoothly with a hasty Soonyoung coming late to school and to his bad luck, got punished by Mr. Yong. That was how Jihoon's high school day normally started, though. And that was what Jihoon liked about his high school year. He began to wonder about Seungcheol because the boy didn't seem like he fancied his. Thus, Jihoon took out a purple post-it note and moved the tip of his ball pen down the blank space.  
  
     When the recess time approached, Jihoon pasted the note on the blue lunchbox and gave a beam of satisfaction. He stood up with the packed meal in his hands and strode towards Seungcheol who was busy writing something in his notebook. Sometimes, Jihoon assumed it as his 'diary' considering how the boy took a great care of it and how quick he hid it from Jihoon when he sensed him coming.  
  
     Seungcheol looked less intimidating than yesterday and that motivated Jihoon to put the blue lunchbox on the boy's desk. If this was the only method he could approach the taller like his mother told him, then Jihoon would be happy to apply it every day. Before long, he quickly left and seated on his own place again.  
  
     Seungcheol, however, widened his eyes at the post-it note Jihoon wrote him and shot the petite boy a look.  
  
     _I don't know about you but I hope you have a nice day!_  
  
     By the time Seungcheol exchanged a look with Jihoon, his heart felt something unusual. Something uncommon. Something weird. And Seungcheol couldn't define it by words or mathematical equations and symbols. Jihoon, on the other hand, merely smiled at him and ate his lunch as if nothing had happened.  
  
     He slowly looked away from the petite boy and before he knew it, a small smile decked on his face.


End file.
